My Last Breath
by slayya
Summary: When Aragorn is mortally wounded Arwen has to watch as he slips away in his final days with her. Please R & R


My Last Breath

Just a note to say I know the lyrics aren't mine and the characters either. I just moulded my story to it. I also know I have mixed the verses up so they fit the story, sorry about that :)

When Aragorn is mortally wounded Arwen has to watch as he slips away in his final days with her.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_holding my last breath  
safe inside myself  
are all my thoughts of you  
sweet raptured light it ends here tonight  
  
_

He lay in the bed, the arrow still protruding from his stomach, his friends stood around him. She herself was sitting beside him, stroking his brow with warm water and holding his hand gently.

"Arwen"

She turned. Her father had entered, followed closely by Faramir.

"Ada" _(Dad/father)_

He came over to her and hugged her, rocking her gently as she gave way to her tears. Finally, she looked up; she had bags under her eyes and looked like she hadn't slept in days.

"Arwen, go and sleep. I will sit with him, Legolas and Faramir will fetch you if there is any change."

"No Ada, I can't. How can I sleep when Aragorn is lying here? He needs me here with him."

"Please, do this for me."

When she nodded he stood her up and looked to Legolas.

"Escort Arwen to her room please Legolas."

"Of course"

Arwen approached Legolas; he took her by the arm and led her to the doorway. She took one last look at Aragorn before she was gently pulled away and off to her bedroom.

****

_closing your eyes to disappear  
you pray your dreams will leave you here  
but still you wake and know the truth  
no one's there_

She awoke from her sleep to hear a voice.

"Arwen"

"Aragorn?"

"No, it is I, Faramir. Come, he is calling for you."

****

_hold on to me love  
you know I can't stay long  
all I wanted to say was I love you and I'm not afraid  
can you hear me?  
Can you feel me in your arms?_

She rushed along the halls to where Aragorn lay and slid into the chair beside him.

"Arwen?"

"Yes, my darling, I'm here."

Tears slipped down her cheeks.

"Don't cry, my love, I am not afraid of death. You have shown me that."

She smiled slightly and stroked his brow.

"Sleep my Aragorn"

He closed his eyes.

Merry and Pippin approached her and Legolas put a comforting hand on her shoulder. They only had to take one look at Arwen before tears were pouring down their cheeks as well. Arwen turned to then and held out her arms, the two hobbits came to her and she hugged her arms tight around them. She rocked gently from side to side, not only trying to calm them down but herself too. One of the elf healers approached her.

"Lady Arwen?"

She looked up.

"We need your consent to remove the arrow from your husband."

She let go of Merry and Pippin.

"...but...but..."

Gandalf spoke up, "It will give him better chances of life rather than death Arwen."

"I agree" said Gimli

She looked around at everyone in the room, "I...I..." Her gaze fell on Aragorn, "Alright...but I must speak with my father first."

****

_I'll miss the winter  
a world of fragile things  
look for me in the white forest  
hiding in a hollow tree (come find me)  
  
_

Elrond entered the room where his daughter was waiting for him.

"Have I made the right choice, Ada? Should I have made them keep the arrow in? Removing it will cause him so much pain, I do not know if I can bear it."

"Yes there will be pain involved but only in the short term, which surely is better than the long term, is it not?"

"Yes, but that arrow is the only thing keeping Aragorn and I together, I wouldn't be able to cope if I lost him."

"It may be keeping you together for now but it won't last. You will still lose him. He may yet survive if you remove it."

"But he may not"

"This is true, but there is no chance of survival if the arrow is left in."

"You are right Ada. I must stick with my decision, but one thing…will you come with me? Be there when they take it out?"

"Of course nya hína _(my child)_."

She smiled and left.

****

_I know you hear me  
I can taste it in your tears_

"Your Majesty?"

He slowly turned his head to the healer standing beside him.

"They need to remove the arrow"

"I know"

"This..." he held up a small bottle filled with a liquid "...is ancient elvish herb medicine. If you take it, it will make you drowsy making the pain less, but you must try to take it and keep it down, can you do that?"

When he nodded the healer uncorked the bottle and poured the liquid into Aragorn's open mouth, he grimaced slightly at the taste, and turned his head as Arwen approached the bed with her father.

"Are you ready Aragorn?"

He nodded weakly, as the medicine was taking affect. Arwen took his hand and whispered in his ear, "I will stay with you, I promise." Then one of the healers stepped forward.

"We'll talk you through it as we go along, alright?" He looked to Aragorn, but he gave no response, so he looked to Arwen who nodded. "Right, first we need to snap the arrowhead off, Faramir and Legolas I need you to lift King Aragorn very carefully up from the bed so I can do that."

Legolas and Faramir approached the bed and on either side slid their hands under their fallen friend.

"Lady Arwen, could you please move away?"

"No, I am sorry but I promised I would stay with him and stay I shall."

The healer nodded slightly and motioned to the two people, "Lift him". They very carefully did as they were instructed, making Aragorn groan in pain. The healer bent down and took hold of the arrowhead He snapped it off making Aragorn half cry out and squeeze Arwen's hand very tight to try and relieve the pain.

"Is that the worst of it over?" Arwen asked as she looked at her distressed husband as the man and elf laid him back down on the bed. "I'm afraid not. We still have to remove the shaft."

Arwen felt her husband's body stiffen as the healer positioned himself, hands on the shaft. He pulled and the shaft was ripped from the King's body and he screamed as pain shot threw him like fire. The healer had to act quickly as blood was spurting out of the wound, Arwen looked to her father, who smiled and went to help the healer and she bent down beside her husband.

"Well done, my brave Aragorn."

The healer and Elrond were still trying to suppress the blood flow, which was still flowing out of the wound. Then Elrond grabbed a piece of material and put it round Aragorn's waist and tied it tightly, making Aragorn flinch. The healer fetched some more of the medicine and gave it to Aragorn, which made him so drowsy he was soon asleep. When this happened, Arwen grabbed the healer and pulled him outside.

"Well?"

"Well what, Lady Arwen?"

"Well, what are his chances of survival now the arrow has been removed?"

"I don't know, it depends on whether the blood flow stops or not."

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For telling me the truth and not lying to me."

She went back into the room.

****

_holding my last breath  
safe inside myself  
are all my thoughts of you  
sweet raptured light it ends here tonight_

She was pacing up and down the corridor outside Aragorn's room. Her father approached her and handed her a cup of water.

"Hannon le" _(thank you)_

She took a sip and turned away, running her fingers through her already messed up hair.

"I can't stand this Ada, not knowing whether Aragorn will live or die and it terrifies me."

"I know, it is hard but..."

He was cut off when Frodo walked out, "Umm......my Lady Arwen?"

She turned. "The healer wants to talk to you."

She nodded and the let the hobbit lead the way to the healer that had summoned her.

"What is it?" she asked rather abruptly.

"Lady Arwen, I'm afraid we have tried and we can't get the bleeding to stop..." he hesitated, "...I'm afraid we can't do anymore here."

Arwen took a breath and asked very slowly, choking back her tears, "How long?"

"Not very long, it will be soon now."

She took a breath and looked away over to Aragorn.

****

_say goodnight  
don't be afraid  
calling me calling me as you fade to black_

All his friends stood around his bed waiting for a sign. She sat at his bedside, watching, waiting. Then he stirred ever so slightly.

"Aragorn?"

"Arwen..."

She smiled, he looked around at everyone.

"Legolas...Gimli...Frodo...Gandalf...you're all here."

"We came to you in your time of need, dear boy" Gandalf said smiling at him.

He turned to Arwen and placed a hand on her stomach, "Tell our son I love him." Tears brimmed in her eyes as she took his hand, he laid back and closed his eyes and his hand went limp in hers.

"Aragorn...Aragorn..." she shook his hand gently and lay her head on to the bed, burying her face in the covers lying over Aragorn's limp body, letting her tears fall and get soaked into the material. Gandalf hung his head, as did Gimli, Legolas muttered a prayer in elvish and turned away, Frodo ran out of the room and Sam ran after him, calling: "Mr Frodo! Wait!" Gandalf, Legolas and Gimli left leaving only Merry, Pippin and Arwen in the room. Pippin turned to Merry and flung his arms around him, who hugged him back and let Pippin bury his head into his cloak and cry into his shoulder. Arwen looked up and Merry looked through Pippin's messed up hair at Arwen's tear-stained face and just whispered, "Pip..." he looked up "let's go outside." He gently led Pippin outside and into the corridor, Arwen turned back to her husband and gently caressed her stomach, "I will"


End file.
